Some times tiebreaks can be your best friend and some times they are your mortal enemy.

In the case of Marissa Li, she's probably a fan now after the 2016 National All-Girls completed April 24 at Chicago's McCormick Place. Despite losing her sixth-round match with Sophie Morris-Suzuki of New York, Marissa prevailed via tiebreaks over the challenger from the Empire State, to win the Under 14 National championship.

Shreya Mangalam -- and frequent Illinois player Ritika Pandey of Wisconsin -- both tied for third place, a half-point back (4.5), with Shreya taking fourth place hardware and Ritika fifth on tiebreaks.

At 4.0, Aria Hoesley tied for 9th place, taking 14th on tiebreaks.

Tiebreak math was not so kind to Miranda Liu in the Under 16 section. Miranda and Thalia Cervantes of Missouri both earned 5.5 results, drawing head to head in the fourth round. Thalia edged Miranda on the tiebreak to take first place while Miranda, rated 99-points less, took second place in the 40-player U16.

Georgia Wolf and Emily McClanahan both tied for fourth place with 4.0's, with Georgia 11th on tiebreaks and Emily 12th.

Ashley Yan was the top Illinois finisher in the U12 with 5.0 points, tying for third place, eighth place on tiebreaks.

Natalie Wisniowski was also 5.0 in the U10, good enough for a tie for fourth place, fifth on tiebreaks. Natalie's only blemish was a third-round loss to the the section champion, Emma Cheng of Ohio.

Isha Gani and Jasmin Ramirez were the high Illinois scorers in the U18 with 3.0, tying for 14th place.

Three lllinois girls in the Under 8 section posted 3.5's, tying for 31st place including Rishika Mahodaya, Ria Raj and Isabelle Patel-Garcia.

79 Illinois girls were among the 448 entries in the three-day event.

With three qualifying teams in the U16 section, Earle STEM tied for the highest score with 6.0, taking first place with the higher tiebreak than their New York counterpart. Tamya Fultz, Angelique Wilson and Gelita Woodlow all contributed 2.0's.

De La Salle (of Chicago) took second place out of three qualifying teams in the U18 with 6.0. Sydney Roberson lead the way with 2.5, while Deborah Mezzich and Destini Valle contributed to the team total.

In the Under 14 section, Kinzie (Chicago) had the fifth highest team tally with Izellah Ortiz and Gabrielle Cisneros contributing to the score.

---

Earlier posting:

Heading into Round Five, Marissa Li is playing on first board in the Under 14 section against Vicki Yang of New York, both with perfect 4.0/4 scores. Shreya Mangalam (3.0) is playing on third board. Both Illinois girls are playing the light colors.

Among Under 16 players, Miranda Liu has three wins and a draw, and is playing the dark colors on second board against a Virginia opponent, Neha Pattanaik.

With 3.0, Shayna Provine is also playing black against Charlie Reeder of New York on Board Five.

Ashley Yan is tied for eighth place in the Under 12 section with a 3.0 score. Ashley is playing dark on the 13th board of the section. Sara Lin and Layla Rodriguez are a half-point back at 2.5.

Illinois has three girls tied for 11th place in the Under 10 section, all with 3.0's: Alice Fan, Natalie Wisniowski, and Saanvi Adusumalli.

Entry birthdates are based on 1/1/2016 ages.